In this Bulletin
Sections which have changed since last time marked *
- * Job advertisement: Bookings Administrator
- * Voyage news
- * 2025 individual voyages available – individual bookings for young people
- * 2026 voyages
- 2025 adult voyage available
- * Volunteer sea staff vacancies – can you help?
- * Newly-recommended young volunteers (aged under 25)
- Planning a gap year, or not working over the winter? Join our refit core team!
- AGM and curry night 2025 – a date for your diary
- Fundraising event in Goodwood House – with Libby Purves – volunteers needed
- * Shorebased training weekend February 2026
- Vessel tracking – see where Prolific is sailing as we go on our adventures!
- Prolific maintenance days – help needed
- Chris Ellis Award – win £££s of the price of your next voyage
- Advice on careers in the marine sector for young people
- * Financial appeal
- Raise funds for OYT South if you’re shopping online – we’ve made over £2,800 through Easyfundraising! Are you aware of the size of donations available?
- OYT South social media – please share as well as liking! NB we are now on Bluesky instead of Twitter/X
- New readers’ welcome and introduction
- Receiving this newsletter by email
* Job advertisement: Bookings Administrator
Having sadly said goodbye to Susanna Paynter in the last issue of this newsletter, OYT South is hiring!
We are looking for a new Bookings Administrator, based in our Southampton office. This is a part time position, open to contracts for between 25 and 30 hours per week spread over 5 days. See here for details of the role and how to apply. Closing date midday Monday 4th August 2025.
If you would be motivated by helping to ensure that young people have opportunities for often life-changing voyages on board Prolific, and you would like to join our small, friendly and dedicated team, do have a look at the detailed job description.
Please contact us if you want to discuss the role before applying. There may be scope to look at how best this job might fit with other responsibilities such as childcare.
* Voyage news
The last newsletter left Prolific just arriving in Le Havre for the Tall Ships festival. Next day the crew had a chance to explore Le Havre – both the town and the festival. Some of the young people signed up to rowing and the crew then all went to the beach together.
The following day they took part in a fun run organised with Ocean Spirit around the harbour. They had to go to the local police station to have their passports stamped, and then joined the crew parade followed by the crew party.
They went home the next day. Feedback included:
“This week was endlessly exciting, partially due to the considerate staff but also due to the amazing, gorgeous crew. The night watch was so stunning, could see the Milky Way! Need to go again! I don’t really have a least favourite bit … It was just character building really.”
“I think my favourite bit was probably the fact that I got to lead one of the sail hoists. I thought that was really cool. I’ve never had the opportunity to do that before. It’s been awesome – I love that there is not only the opportunity to improve sailing but also so many social opportunities.”
“I think my best part was probably watching the sun come over the horizon on the overnight watch. I just liked watching that little sliver just get bigger, that was cool. I’ve had such an amazing time once again! After having come back since last year’s voyage, I know I will definitely return. EACH VOYAGE BEING EVEN BETTER! Honestly thank you, to all the staff members on board, it has been AMAZING!!”
“My most memorable bit was coming into the port in Le Havre thinking, wow this is France, a different country and we sailed here! Had an incredible voyage and time at the Tall Ships Festival, really one of a kind! The staff were absolutely wonderful, skilful and supportive.”
“My favourite bit was probably being on watch in the night and just being on the helm and seeing the stars and just being at one with the world.”
“I think the best moment is just how like everyone gets on so well as a crew. Like I could chat to anyone one on one and we’d all go out together or in like separate groups and I just think we all really worked well together. Had the most amazing voyage, staff were so friendly, welcoming and supportive and have met wonderful people on board. The festival was amazing.”
“I think the best moment was doing the channel crossing. I’ve never done one before at night and especially night sailing – really loved that.”
“Least favourite bit – oh this is going to sound really cheesy but: leaving! Genuinely there’s not been a bad experience, I’ve loved all of it, I don’t want to go home.”
“I think my best part was my watch, when I see the stars and I say ‘oh I will stay a little bit longer’ because sun will shine up – in the end I wait one hour and 20 minutes. Basically I do half of a second watch but it’s OK!”
“Coming back to Prolific has given me even more amazing experience on large sailing ships. I’m looking forward to hopefully coming back again and spending more time surrounded by new people and amazing sea staff.”
Prolific was then joined by our crew for the Tall Ships race to Dunkirk. They completed all the introductory briefings on Sunday night and had some time to explore Le Havre. Monday saw an 0500 start with two bridges and a lock to get through before the Parade of Sail and the crowds gathered to wave them off. They hoisted the main and mizzen inside the harbour as it was due to be windy outside and then headed for the start line. Once the race began, everyone was quickly into a watch system and working hard despite challenging weather and some seasickness.
They raced through the night – you can see the fleet tracker here. After they crossed the finish line there was still a good sail to Dunkirk:
There was another lock into the festival but it was great to be greeted by our own watchleader and Youth Trustee Unity who was helping with organisation at the festival. It was good to see other vessels gathering for the event:
They were given a berth and reflected on two very long days as they fell asleep at the dinner table!
Next day the young people were allowed a lie-in and Prolific moved onto our festival berth, followed by an epic brunch on board. Then there was a flurry of cleaning and tidying and making Prolific look beautiful with flags and pennants:
They went ashore for showers and a chance to explore Dunkirk.
On Thursday they spent some time on boat matters including man overboard recovery and fire drills alongside. The festival had organised a lot of activities and in very hot weather, Prolific’s crew seized the chance to go ice skating! On Friday there were activities and challenges organised on the beach and then they got ready to take part in the crew parade – lots of fun!
The parade was followed by the crew party for all the vessels and our crew had a great night out with the fleet. They left us the next day after another very early start, having really bonded as a team – and sailed 221 nautical miles:
Feedback included:
“Best bit: being able to explore the festival and meet and chat with all the other crews. There were lots of people from all over the world that you could talk to and find out about stuff. Seeing all the other boats…Most memorable: doing all the stuff with the crew – ice skating and the beach games. And definitely the crew party. They were all really enjoyable. Taking part in a Tall Ships race is amazing.”
“Best bit: when we left and getting to see all the Tall Ships and getting to see the port of Le Havre. Most memorable: the crew parade, that was really good. Thank you for all the amazing experiences.”
“Best bit: meeting lots of interesting new people. Most memorable: when we left and we had the giant waves and rain. Really fun learning to sail.”
“Best bit: the night sail when we were on night watch. Most memorable: crossing the finish line. Such a good experience. met so many lovely supportive people in both the crew and sea staff. Meeting all the people and looking round the other boats was really cool.”
“My face hurts from smiling – the people you meet are my favourite part.”
“Best bit: being a part of the race. That was such a cool experience. Had a great voyage with a great crew! The experience on Prolific is amazing and the Tall Ships Festival was so much fun!”
“Most memorable bit: start of the race, seeing the other ships which was very cool. Honestly really enjoyed my week here meeting new people such as the crew and staff, who are all awesome.”
“It was a great week with everyone and I made so many friends that I will stay in touch with.”
“Overall, had the best time with a great crew! Had an experience I thought I would never have. This week has been fun!”
“This was my first time on Prolific and I learnt a lot and had a very fun time.”
Big thanks to sea staff Gotch, Sara, Josh, Graeme Findlay, Rose MacInnes, Jack Thompson and Pavan Kumar.
The crew who joined in Dunkirk to bring Prolific home were from George Green’s School in Tower Hamlets – the school which, several years ago, first brought us Sara who is now our Staff Mate!
They arrived in the evening and had time for briefings and a look round on shore, before able to enjoy the spectacular drone display and fireworks at the end of the festival:
The forecast for the week wasn’t very friendly and they wanted to get going rapidly next day – though it took a while to get through the lock – though singing, dancing and ice lollies kept them going, as well as the crowds which had gathered to watch the fleet leave. Watchleader Unity’s family sent some photos of Prolific setting off:
Sadly there wasn’t enough wind to sail and they motored through the TSS and on through the night, arriving in Cowes at lunchtime the next day. The sea state had been quite uncomfortable and many were glad to get in!
They had showers, shore time and a relaxed evening.
From no wind to too much wind as gales came through the next day – definitely a day to stay in harbour! They did some work towards their RYA qualifications, followed by a deck wash, shore leave ice cream, and a chance for the young people to prepare a pilotage plan for Poole.
That evening’s washing up was very extreme indeed and people got distinctly wet, before a movie night on board.
On Wednesday they finally had enough wind – not too much – to sail. They had a good session of tacking practice with people taking turns on the helm, and a man overboard recovery drill, before heading out of the Solent via the North Channel, sailing all the way across the bay to Poole in lumpy conditions.
The watches did a great job of running the pilotage into Poole, where the voyage ended yesterday with 14 people earning RYA Start Yachting certificates and 210 miles completed, and several of the young people doing well enough to be invited to think about whether they would like to train as volunteers.
You can see their voyage track here. We’ll include their feedback in the next issue.
Big thanks to sea staff Mark, Sara, Josh, Unity Bowns and Aaron Thomas-Epstein, with special congratulation to Iori Kent who was signed off as a third mate and Tyler Grant who successfully completed his bosun assessment!
* 2025 individual voyages available – individual bookings for young people
Our 2025 programme still has some exciting opportunities to join us this year!
Please spread the word!
These are voyages for young people who want to join a voyage as individuals or smaller groups, and mix with others:
11-15 August, Brixham to Brixham, 4 nights, age 11-16, £525 per person. Aimed at younger crew members and anyone without a passport. A lot of our individual voyages attract keen young sailors, over-18s, people doing the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, and people wanting to test themselves with a challenging adventure; and, weather permitting, longer passages such as Channel crossings. But this doesn’t suit everyone! So this voyage has been designated as a shorter coastal voyage and a gentler opportunity, ideal for the younger end of our age range (11-16-year-olds) and passports not required. Ideal for anyone who is unsure about coping with a more ambitious voyage and wants an easier introduction. Only 2 places left
30 Aug – 3 Sept, Poole to Southampton, 4 nights, age 11-25, £525 per person – 8 places available.
29 Oct – 2 Nov, Southampton, 4 nights, age 11-25, £545 per person – half term -– places available.
Other voyages are all fully-booked but there is always the possibility of a cancellation, perhaps even at the last minute if someone is ill, for example. So do please let us know if you would like to go on a mailing list to be contacted about short-notice vacancies.
Email voyageadmin@oytsouth.org to ask about individual bookings.
* 2026 voyages
Do you know a school or youth club or another organisation which might like an exclusive booking for 12-15 people?
The 2026 programme is now available on the website but at this early stage it is still subject to changes. If you are interested in a 2026 booking , please ask.
2025 adult voyage available
We have one remaining voyage for adult individual bookings:
10-12 Oct, Southampton, 2 nights, age range 18+, £265 per person, weekend voyage (Friday evening to Sunday evening)
All welcome – but the weekend is particularly useful for anyone who is thinking of joining our sailing volunteers for 2026, and wants to find out more! Email for details or to make a booking.
* Volunteer sea staff vacancies – can you help?
Whether or not you already have voyages booked as a volunteer this season, these are the spaces still available – please let us know if you can help with anything. Berths listed for “trainee mates” or “trainee bosuns” MAY be suitable for people who earned new recommendations last year or this year to join our volunteer team, even if you have never sailed in a staff berth before – please ask whether any particular vacancy might be appropriate for you. Dates on this list are when young people are on board – please note that we normally need volunteers the afternoon before, to help get everything ready.
1-5 Oct, Southampton – qualified or trainee watchleader or bosun
6-10 Oct, Southampton – qualified or trainee watchleader or bosun
14-19 Oct, Southampton – qualified or trainee watchleader or bosun
And we have a first mate sailing on three voyages (1-5 Oct, 20-24 Oct and 24-28 Oct) who can still do them if needed but would be happy to step aside if another 1M could take on one of them?
Contact caroline.white@oytsouth.org if you would be interested in sailing on any of these voyages.
For those who are new to the process, do please remember that if you commit to a voyage booking then we do really need you! Sometimes people assume that with several staff and volunteers on each voyage, it won’t be a problem to drop out; or you may think that if you’re not a qualified volunteer, you are not essential to the voyage. But in practice, we need a certain number of adults on every voyage in order to be able to sail – and you may, for example, be the only female member of sea staff on a voyage which has girls in the crew. It’s quite possible that a voyage can’t go ahead without you, which is why we need to avoid people dropping out and if it is absolutely unavoidable, we need as much notice as possible. It is also why we appreciate you all and the time you give to the charity very much indeed!
* Newly-recommended young volunteers (aged under 25)
Have you sailed on a voyage this year and been told at the end of the voyage that you have earned a recommendation to join our young volunteers’ team and train as a bosun or watchleader on board, or have the potential to do this after another voyage or two? If you have had one of these recommendations, it will have been clear from the email you should have received from our office after your voyage.
We have a fund which can help young people in this position to do some extra sailing, especially if you would have struggled to afford it, in order to build up your confidence and familiarity on board Prolific. Some of this funding is available for this voyage:
30 Aug – 3 Sept, Poole to Southampton
If you are available and think you might be eligible, please get in touch!
Planning a gap year, or not working over the winter? Join our refit core team!
If you are planning a gap year, or you are between jobs or for any other reason potentially available for several weeks or months this winter, might you be interested in joining our full-time refit team? We will need a couple of full-time volunteers between November and March. More details here. Plenty of our previous refit volunteers have gone on to great jobs in the marine industry – it really helps to have maintenance experience as well as good sailing skills when applying for sailing jobs! And any refit volunteers who want to sail in Prolific can be offered berths as watchleaders, bosuns, or relief engineers. So it’s a great way of developing useful experience, contributing to a good cause, securing free food and accommodation for a few months, and having a positive experience with a fun group of people! If you’re interested, please read the web page and email us with the details requested at the bottom of the page.
We’ll also need lots of casual volunteers helping for a day, a few days or a weekend, but we can get people booked in for that much nearer the time – at this stage we are really just thinking about the core team.
AGM and curry night 2025 – a date for your diary
Our AGM and social evening will be 8th November – save the date! You can see the details and book your curry here.
Fundraising event in Goodwood House – with Libby Purves – volunteers needed
If you enjoyed the recent article in the Times about us by Libby Purves, come and hear her speak!
Thanks to our friends at Ned’s Fund there will be a fundraising event for OYT South on Thursday 6th November in historic Goodwood House – save the date and we will let you know when tickets go on sale. We will also need two or three volunteers to help on the night – handing out drinks and leaflets – is anyone interested? Email caroline.white@oytsouth.org.
* Shorebased training weekend February 2026
Next year’s OYT South training weekend for staff and volunteers will run from 7pm on Friday 6th February to 4pm on Sunday 8th February at a new venue, Foxlease Park, Clay Hill, Lyndhurst, Hampshire, SO43 7DE. As last year, all accommodation and meals will be available on site.
We will announce a schedule and prices in due course, once we have a full programme, but we can already confirm that we will be offering the RYA First Aid course (updates required every three years – check when yours goes out of date) and an accredited Mental Health First Aid Awareness course.
We are still interested in your suggestions for other courses. Is there something you would really like us to cover? It might be something new, or something we have done before where you would like a refresher – we have enough new volunteers that it is fine to repeat topics every few years. Or are you an instructor, or someone with expertise in a subject that might interest our staff and volunteers – could you offer to run a session? Please let us know your suggestions!
Vessel tracking – see where Prolific is sailing as we go on our adventures!
Prolific is away from our home base in Southampton for the summer!
You can always have a look and see what we’re up to. This site updates every six hours so don’t worry if the vessel doesn’t appear to be moving! There are other sites (like Marine Traffic) which update more often; but especially for families of a young person on board, the tracking on our site allows you to have a look two or three times a day and see what’s going on.
Prolific maintenance days – help needed!
We have planned maintenance days this season on the following dates – please put them in your diary and email us if you can help. Skilled and unskilled tasks available – or maybe a chance to learn a new skill. Over-18s only, please, except for 16- and 17-year-olds who have sailed with us already and been recommended to return as volunteers – you MAY be able to attend maintenance days with the skipper’s permission depending on what jobs we are doing.
Friday 22nd August – Brixham
Monday 13th October– Southampton
Chris Ellis Award – win £££s of the price of your next voyage
Open for 2025 entries.
If you have enjoyed a voyage with OYT South and want to come again (and are aged 11-25), please think about entering for this award. You can win up to £500 off the price of another voyage, by sending in an account of a voyage you have already done with us. It can be a logbook, diary, story, pictures, video – anything which gives the judges an idea of why you had a good time and would like to come again. The prize is judged at the end of each season and the award can be spent on a voyage the following year. Entries should be emailed to webmaster1@oytsouth.org or posted to the office. See here for more details of this award, which was set up in memory of one of the charity’s founders. You can also see some previous winning entries.
Advice on careers in the marine sector for young people
We have created a page on the website for links to a huge variety of careers in the marine sector – at the end of every voyage, there will be a link to this on the back of the voyage certificates given to the young people, to give them ideas about opportunities both afloat and ashore, with options for people with different interests, skills and levels of education, and hopefully including ideas that many will never have considered, alongside the more obvious maritime roles. The page is a work in progress and we are keen to add more links, so if you have any suggestions, please send them in.
* Financial appeal
Huge thanks this week to the Aumund Foundation / Samson Materials Handling for another very generous contribution towards bursaries; to Oliver Crosthwaite-Eyre who has pledged a contribution toward replacing Prolific’s deck blocks; and a very kind donor who is subsidising a September voyage for Mulberry School.
We need a regular flow of funds to cover at least three major areas: bursaries for young people who could not otherwise afford to sail; vessel maintenance and equipment; and staff salaries – please help, or pass on our details to anyone you come across who might make a grant, large or small.
See here for how to make a donation – you can contribute by cheque, bank transfer or PayPal, but please do something if you possibly can. Don’t forget that if you complete and return a Gift Aid form we can claim back tax on your donation.
Raise funds for OYT South if you’re shopping online – we’ve made over £2,800 through Easyfundraising! Are you aware of the size of donations available?
We mention Easyfundraising in the newsletter each week and we’re really grateful to those people who are using it regularly, but there must be people who haven’t looked at it, or often don’t remember to do it.
Here’s what it DOESN’T do:
- Require you to buy from sources you wouldn’t normally use
- Take lots of time
- Ask you to do anything complicated at all!
- Produce donations so small you would barely notice
- Cost you a penny!
You simply have to buy whatever you already planned to buy online, from whoever you choose to shop with – but having signed up with Easyfundraising, just click to accept a donation if it’s offered when you shop. It’s often a percentage, which means the donations can be really significant for bigger items – a holiday, a flight, an expensive train ticket etc. This week we heard from a volunteer who got a £17 donation when renewing their home insurance. Someone else earned nearly £10 from a VistaPrint order. A few donations like that from a hundred supporters and it starts looking like a really significant total each year.
Do tell us if you’ve got a really good donation from something you bought – these stories help to inspire others. Maybe you even order things online for business purposes and your employer would agree to donate to us like this – at no cost to them but a way to feel good every time they need new boxes of business cards or train tickets to get staff to a conference!
It takes a minute or two to sign up to Easyfundraising: you can do it on a desktop, tablet and/or phone, and you can install a widget that flags up when a donation is available. Once that’s done, imagine you’re looking to buy – say – a rainbow unicorn: just put “rainbow unicorn” in your usual search box, and the list of results shows you which sites come with donations, and how much. It’s up to you what to pick and whether to accept the donation from the site, but a huge choice of sites will offer a donation, often including the site you would normally choose to use for all your rainbow unicorn requirements – and it doesn’t cost you anything, you pay the same price you would pay anyway.
PLEASE click the link now and sign up!
We have already raised over £2,800 through Easyfundraising – huge thanks to everyone who has used it!
OYT South social media – please share as well as liking! NB we are now on Bluesky instead of Twitter/X
If you look at the top left of any page on our website, you can click on icons for Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn. We are also on TikTok.
We have now updated the social media links on our website, replacing Twitter/X with Bluesky – please come and join us there!
Please share our social media posts as widely as you can – with the help of all our supporters, this charity is doing some amazing work and we need more people to hear about it. You don’t need to do anything more than share a post, or perhaps add a comment which could be as simple as “I’ve sailed with this charity!” or “I volunteer for this charity!”.
Please note that OYT South has a policy that our adult staff and volunteers should not make or accept personal online connections with crew members aged under 18, or vulnerable adults. Crew members can use the sites to stay in touch with the boat and with each other, but not with individual staff and volunteers.
New readers’ welcome and introduction
If you have recently registered your interest in OYT South, welcome to our newsletter, which is sent out almost every week, normally on a Friday, and is also copied onto the website.
If you have just started receiving this newsletter by email, it is because we believe you have signed up and consented to receive it – perhaps by emailing us to ask for it, completing a form on our website, or adding your email address to the book on board where people can sign up to receive news, as well as leaving comments. If this was a mistake or you simply decide you want to stop receiving the newsletter, just press “reply” to the email and write UNSUBSCRIBE at the top, or email webmaster1@oytsouth.org asking to unsubscribe.
Each week the newsletter includes a wide range of news from the boat and from the charity, including details of voyages available for young people; adult voyages; opportunities for adult volunteers both ashore and afloat, and much more. We find that while some people read the bulletin almost every week, many others dip in and out, and read it when it’s convenient – which is why some items are repeated. New items are marked with an asterisk * so that if you did read it last week, you can see which sections you can safely skip.
Please feel free to join in any OYT South activities – nothing here is restricted to long-standing members or people who already know one another. New people are always very welcome!
If you need an introduction to the work of OYT South, you should find a lot of useful information on our website. But essentially, we are a registered charity (no. 1079959) which exists to offer adventure under sail as a personal development opportunity for young people aged 11-25, from the widest possible range of backgrounds. A high proportion of our young crew members are disadvantaged or deserving in some way: many of these sail in groups organised by other charities, youth clubs, special schools and so on, and will fill the bulk of our term-time voyages. But those from more fortunate backgrounds are also welcome to sail, either in groups or by coming as individuals on a mixed voyage. Every year we run a variety of shorter local voyages plus longer adventure trips – sometimes including Tall Ships races during the summer holidays. If you are aged 11-25 and hoping to sail as a crew member, take a look here – and this section is also useful for adults who are thinking of organising a voyage for a young person. Adults planning to organise a full group voyage should also see here. Adults who want to sail themselves should see here.
We have a professional staff skipper, mate and engineer, but our watch leaders are normally all volunteers, who combine sailing skills with an interest in working with young people. You can find more information here – how the system works, how to join, and profiles of existing staff and volunteers.
To volunteer for OYT South ashore, please see here. To help with the vessel’s annual refit, see here.
It is a very expensive business maintaining a boat, running an office and employing staff. If you want to help us, please become a member of OYT South. Or see here for information on making a donation.
If you have any questions, please do email – or contact the office.
Receiving this newsletter by email
Many thanks to all those who have given consent to receiving this newsletter by email. If you are not currently getting it by email and would like to, please just click here Newsletter Subscribe and press “send”, or email webmaster1@oytsouth.org.